The Next Kurosaki
by KeyofAce
Summary: The tale of Ichigo and Rukia's son, Jasen. mostly OC's. rated M for violence, language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

I guess the best way to tell this story is to start from the beginning. My name is Jasen Kurosaki, and yes, before you start getting ideas, I'm the son of Ichigo, but that doesn't mean that I like it. The idiot wakes me up every morning with a kick to the head, but thankfully we live in soul society, I can't imagine having a dad like him around in the living world, seriously, I love him but he's so freaking violent. Now my mother, she's a bit different, according to stories, she's similar to dad, but she's much kinder to me, I'm technically royalty in soul society, oh and in case you haven't already guessed, my mum is Rukia Kuchiki, and my uncle is Byakuya Kuchiki. He is the kind of guy who really loves me, but loathes my dad. It's kind of funny because he is still upset that is little sister married, in his words, a useless, good for nothing loser. Whats even more hilarious is when dad tells Byakuya how he beat him up to save his perfect little sister. My little sister didn't want to be a part of the gotei 13, no; she wanted to be part of the secret tactics, that's why Yoruichi-san was her personal trainer. Well, that's fine, as I already knew flash step, but my personal trainer is someone different, well, really I had three. My mother taught me kido and my father taught me zanjutsu. The third teacher is different, his name is Kisuke Uruhara. He's a pretty cool guy but he always wears this stupid hat and these really stupid clogs, he taught me a weird technique. But I'll get to that later. The main point I was trying to make was that I'm 16 and I was currently at the Shinigami academy, about to graduate from the advanced class, with my best friend, who I consider my older brother.

The final test was a warm sunny day, and surprisingly, I wasn't nervous, in fact, I was excited. That day, we have to demonstrate a high level of Kido and Zanjutsu. The ranking test was then after. We had decided to enter the fifth squad, led by Captain Shinji Hirako. My mum wanted me to join Captain Ukitake's squad but I didn't want any favours due to her being a previous lieutenant of his. As I walked down the hall in the Shino Academy, I looked forward to the hall I'd be sitting the written part of the test in. I met my best friend outside the door. His name is Raman Garcia, and he is an Arrancar. Now don't flip out, I know what you're thinking. Evil hollow-Shinigami, but trust me, he is a good guy, he managed to escape Hueco Mundo and saved captain Ukitake's life a few years ago, only being nine years old at the time, just like me. Well that's his reason for not joining squad 13, so we are very much in common. The difference between us is he is superior at kido to me and I'm better than him with my zanpakuto. He was turned into an Arrancar after he was hollow-fied, but he was always much kinder than any hollow. Oh yeah, you probably have no idea what he looks like. Well he has jet black hair, different to my brownish-blonde hair; he has slightly more tanned skin than me and is a little taller. His hair is longer also, but that's only because I had just cut mine, oh and he and I always got in trouble from old man Shunsui, we are Ukitake's pride and joy, for some reason he loved it when we annoy his partner. He always rewarded us with candy too. Raman looked pretty nervous, because he hates written exams, he much prefers a more hands on approach, but I had been studying with him and I smiled at him, placed my hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring look. I could feel him un-tense and I removed my hand from his shoulder. A few knocks on the bell in the academy let us know that the test was due to begin in five minutes, so we opened the door and shuffle in, and sat down in our allocated seats. Several minutes later and the entire class was in the room. The teacher, professor Abarai walked in, his long red hair stuck out behind him. Dad always called him a pineapple. Mum was one of his oldest friends, and he was once the lieutenant of uncle Byakuya.

"Good morning class, as you know, today is the biggest day of your education, all of you have a written test in front of you and also a pencil, please take your pencil and write your name on the front of the paper, then, when you are ready, turn the page over. You have two hours before the next exam, you may start now." Abarai said

I could hear numerous scratches caused by pencils filling the room. I looked at my paper. These were by far the simplest questions I had ever seen. Question 1: you have a zanpakuto and you are facing a hollow that uses a long range ability, how do you kill this hollow? Easy, I thought, flash step to the hollow and slash his mask, killing the hollow and sending it to soul society. All of these questions were the same, how to kill a hollow, what kido do you use in this situation, what does this Shinigami law mean and how would one apply it? I expected at least ninety five per cent from this paper, how easy that was. I put my paper into the submission box and headed to the cafeteria, filling my stomach up with food so I was ready for the coming tests. Soon after, about forty five minutes before the closing of the test, Raman joined me; he looked pleased with himself as he began to heap mountains of food onto his plate. I could tell he is glad that that part of the test is done, at least then he could get ready for the part of the test he excels at, the kido test.


	2. Chapter 2

We headed out to the kido target range; I went before him and cast my first kido, a nice easy Hado, Shakkaho.

_"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Shakkaho"_ I called out and immediately a large burst of red flame was sent out from my palm, destroying a target line from left to right. Next I used a Bakudo, Shitotsu Sansen and a triangle of light shot forth, binding multiple targets and smashing them against a wall and finally, I used another Hado, _Sokatsui_. I'm ninety per cent sure I passed with flying colours. And so did Raman, because he did Hado that were over level forty. With that, we waited for the others to finish their tests, and we began a simple conversation.

"So, how do you think you went?' I asked.

"I came first, I'm damn sure of it!" he cheered, oh I forgot to mention, when he isn't in a strange nervous mood, he is a real cocky, excitable bastard.

"I'm glad to hear it, you crazy ass bastard, what is with all of the noise eh?"

"I'm just really, really, really, really, really excited!"

"You're an idiot, you do realise that?"

"Shut up, or ill smash you with my Arrancar powers!"

"You lose to me in every spar that we have, I beat you with one hand behind by back."

"That's it, try me you idiot, just because you are a Kuchiki family member!"

"I'm a Kurosaki shithead!"

"I'm not a shithead, shithead!"

"You want to fight?"

"Yeah why don't you try me, I'll rip you in half!"

That's when we got hit in the head and realised that our argument had stopped the entire test, old man Shun was going to wring our necks if he got word of our little transgression. Well, that was an interesting way to end a test, and now we're marching in silence to the practice hall, where we draw numbers to see who will be fighting who in a tournament style test, the winner will be highly marked, and receiving one hundred per cent in this aspect of the test. I pulled out number three, out of a class of thirty two, which means I will be fighting the person with the corresponding number three in a four round tournament. The other number three is some nobody who will probably end up remaining the sixth seat of squad four or something, he's of no worry to me, and as I face him with my wooden training sword drawn facing him, he charges at me. Not a smart move, I slash diagonally up, knocking his sword out of his hand and then bring it down on his head, and the foolish, soon to be squad four reject is on his ass. Raman's fight is ten places away from me and he takes about a minute to beat his opponent, someone who could end up ranking well in the eleventh squad, well, the next few fights are more interesting, because the people are more equally skilled, but nowhere near the level that Raman or I are on.

Round two is up and I'm up against some guy who thinks he's pretty amazing or something. He runs at me, and feints a slash, which I see right through and he swings his sword with great force, smashing it into mine and we lock blades. He is better than that last pansy, but not nearly good enough and I make it a point to show a little bit of my true skill, I use my zanpakuto combo one: the eagle's talon. I swing down diagonally, pushing his sword down, then up diagonally in the opposite direction and smash into his torso, this attack is much better with a real sword, and then finally bring it down on the fools head and torso, and he yields, I'm scared that I can hit that hard to be honest, but I decide to take a nap while I wait for my next fight. Which is after a while, two losers took an hour to finish their fight but now I am rested and ready for my semi-finals bout, with someone who has the potential to be a third seater on any squad that he wants. He's fast too, swing, slash, stab, slash, swing, swing, stab, thrust lunge. We go back and forth like a dance, a brutal, bloody dance. He feints a strike, but is quick and smacks me on the head, a small trickle of blood flows down the side of my head. This fuckwit was good, and he tricked me, no forgiveness here. I use my next combo, combo 2: the eagle's beak. I start to jab my blade at him multiple times, quickly, so that it appears that I have many hands all moving at once, he blocks many, but not all and one hits his wrist long enough to give me an opening to smash my blade into his ribs, breaking four of them. Very soon after I beat this bastard, I find out that my next bout will be with Raman. And then I find out that the final fight will be using our zanpakuto's and I am not very happy about that, what if I kill my best friend, he is no match for me in zanpakuto combat.

"You ready to lose little Arrancar?"

"How about you little Kuchiki?"

"You do realise that you are going to get cut up repeatedly by my new abilities?"

"You do realise that I don't care, you're not the only one with a new ability, I am also ready to kick your ass, trust me, I am going to murder you."

"you are about to get your poor, sad, pathetic Arrancar head removed, let me show you, the fruits of my recent training."

"What are you talking about?"

"A new ability, one that should shock and scare you, and your Arrancar abilities."

"You don't mean, wait have you achieved your Shikai?"

"Ban Kai!"

"Ban Kai" I shouted.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ban Kai" I shouted.

"What, what are you saying?" Raman exclaimed

"That I have achieved the final release of a zanpakuto and you have no chance against me!"

"Are you serious?"

"No."

"You've got to be kidding me now, what was the point of that trick?"

"To throw you off of your game."

"Whatever, can we just get to the fight now?"

"Sure, come at me."

Raman lunged at me, he's good at zanjutsu, but not nearly as good as me to be honest, he trains with me and he's never beaten me, but to be fair, my dad is quite possibly the best sword fighter in soul society, though Kenpachi might be above him. I parry his lunge and he swings the blade, crashing it down onto mine, rattling my arm with shear force. I push my blade against his and leap backwards, he uses my lack of balance to push forward, swinging wildly at me, thrusts and slashes and jabs and cleaves, but I manage to parry them all. He swings down on me with the same crushing force as before, but this time, I meet his strike with my own, knocking him off balance and I swing forward with my sword, which he blocks, but we the force knocks his blade away and I slash into his arm, warm blood dripping out of the slash wound. I keep up the assault and eventually knocked his sword away, but he's quick, and snaps his elbow into my wrist then grips my other one and twists it so I drop my blade. I punch him in the jaw and jump, kicking him in the side of the face, knocking him to the ground, he sweeps my leg and jumps on me, with two feet, so I take his full weight right to my stomach, smashing me down, breaking the floorboards beneath me. I flip out from under him and take a few steps back.

I don't know if I've mentioned, but my dad really likes boxing, so he showed me a whole bunch of techniques, but I took one to use myself. Taking a few steps forward, I stand in a peeka-boo stance and begin to move round in a figure eight motion, dodging and building up momentum, he threw a punch at me, but I easily dodged it and seeing my chance, unleashed the Dempsey roll, throwing hook after hook after hook, seven in total, with an uppercut to put him flat on his ass. Astoundingly, he gets back up, and despite bleeding thoroughly, he's still ready to fight me. He runs at me, throwing a solid punch right at my jaw. I deflect it, due to the Dempsey roll, he's sloppy. He throws several more punches and kicks at my face but even so, I can read them all, blocking and dodging when necessary. At this point, I realise that he was trapping me in a corner, and he's picked up his zanpakuto. He swings it at me and I just roll out of the way, so he continues to slash, jab and slice his blade at me. I dodge, but he gets a few hits at me. The worst thing is he is really enjoying the fact that he is guarding my zanpakuto. If I don't get my sword back soon, I won't last much longer and the fight will be called a decision victory, his victory. I won't let that happen. I sprint at him, and he swings his sword at me, I take the hit and push him backwards, grabbing my sword in the process. Time to unleash my next combo, combo 3: the eagles wings. I run at him and slash my sword at him in many one hundred and eighty degree cleaves, two hit him, and he goes down.

He lost.

I won.

I grasp his fore arm and pick him up off of the ground, he grins at me and congratulates me on my victory, and I congratulate him on fighting so well, now all we have to do is wait a few hours for the grading. Since he lives just next door to me, we decide to head home to my house, where my mum has made lunch, dads probably waiting to find out how I went, I have to be careful however, even though I'm not a fully-fledged Shinigami yet, Kenpachi likes to challenge me, to see if I'm as god as my dad, unfortunately, Yachiru is around also, and she likes to find "playmates" for Kenny. I see her walking down the road and quickly hide my spiritual energy; she isn't finding me any time soon. As we walked inside, my dad tried to kick me in the face, I blocked it, and my mum kicked him in the chin. He walked off sulking, and mum put out a plate of food. I guzzle down the water and the huge sandwiches, and so does Raman. By the time we had finished, it was time for us to head back to the academy for grading. We both applied for the fifth squad, and I think that we will be graded first and second. We take our seats as Captain Commander Shunsui makes his speech. Dad says he used to be a notorious ladies man and couldn't keep it in his pants, I sometimes wonder how someone that casual made it as the captain commander. Dad told me he was groomed for command by the previous commander, Yamamoto and that Shunsui's quite an impressive fighter, I know his lieutenant though, happens to be his son, sometimes comes and teaches the advanced class, Ronok Kyoraku, son of Shunsui and Lisa Yadomaru. His speech is pretty bland, as you go and become Shinigami of the gotei 13, remember your honour and all that generic crap. When he finally finishes his speech, he lists the squad allocations. Our friend, Rangika, the daughter of Rangiku and Shuhei ranks third in the ninth squad, she looks just like her mother, and has both of her parents strength, and what a chest, I mean, I'm nothing like my lecherous father but she puts all other chests but her mothers to shame. As you can probably she's always been a crush of mine, but her dads pretty scary and impressive, he could have been made the captain of the sixth squad, but rejected it, serving under Kensei, also, a really tough guy. His daughter is a real flirt though, loves to mention how much she loves the number sixty nine whenever she's around me. After a while though, Raman's name is called out. He made it as the fourth seat of the fifth squad, and I'm very proud of him. After a short time, my name is called out. I made it. I'm third seat of the fifth squad. I'm serving under captain Hirako.


	4. Chapter 4

It was two years after that that the real story begins, you see, it was my first mission out of soul society, and I'm not going to lie, I was excited. Captain Hirako had sent me, Raman and Vice-Captain Hinamori. To add to that, the ninth squad third seat Rangika and the Vice-Captain of squad eight, Ronok Kyoraku was also accompanying us. As we all gathered in front of captain-commander Kyoraku, we were given our mission. We were to go to Karakura Town, where my dad and aunties were born, and wait there for a Menos Grande to appear. At which point we would dispatch it and return back to soul society.

"Tomorrow, the five of you will all head out in to the real world to dispatch a Menos Grande grade hollow. For three of you, it will be you're first mission in the real world, and for the other two, it will be one of many journeys there. It will be dangerous, but all five of you are extremely capable of dispatching any hollows that you need to. I must warn you however, if any more than one Menos arrives, get out of there and if an Adjucha or Vasto Lorde arrives, you run, you run as fast as you can until you can no longer feel its reiatsu." Shunsui informed the team.

"Yes sir." I replied. Even though I was only third seat, I took over as the de facto leader of the group without even trying to.

"What about healing? I know a few healing Kido, but not all that much." Rangika asked.

"Vice-Captain Hinamori is a Kido master; she is completely capable of healing any injuries during battle." Shinji replied.

"I see, thank you Captain Hirako." Rangika replied.

"Now, without further delay, prepare yourselves for tomorrow and get some rest." Shunsui commanded.

We all filed out of the office and I walked to my home with Raman, we had both moved in to the squad five barracks, we each had our own rooms and offices and we went back to mine for a drink, being eighteen, we were in the middle of our youth and excited to be at our peak. Because we had a delayed aging process, we were going to stay at our physical peak for a long, long time. After a long drinking session, we both passed out in our rooms. I was rudely awoken the next morning by a busty blonde slapping me in the face screaming that I was late and needed to hurry up and get ready. I hastily threw on my Shinigami attire and grabbed my zanpakuto, following Rangika out of my room (how she got in, I still don't know) and out to the Dangai. Ronok was there along with Hinamori, and Raman, according to them, I was late by twenty minutes, unacceptable to Hinamori, whereas Ronok found it hilarious that I couldn't hold my liquor down. Raman just looked tired and Rangika was yelling at me for being late and for making her wake me up. The Dangai opened and we all filed through, running at a quick pace because of me, as Rangika didn't stop reminding me. It annoyed me how much fun she took in getting me in trouble, geez, I tell you, if she wasn't so damn sexy, I wouldn't be able to put up with her crap. But enough about that, as soon as we entered Karakura, we were greeted with silence, nothing but silence, there was no trace of a Menos, let alone a hollow of any kind. There was no way that Soul Society could have gotten it wrong, they were always right, and the huge reiatsu came up on every monitoring computer, there was no way that they were wrong, and that was why the two Vice-Captains seemed so worried. No ordinary hollow or even a Menos could hide their Reiatsu. That was a huge worry to them, so Ronok had his sword out and Hinamori had begun to chant the call to Sokatsui. I unsheathed my Zanpakuto as did Raman and Rangika. Just in case, we wanted to be ready, not that I could do all that much, the difference between me and the others was that they had all at least gained the release of their sword, I hadn't. No, my zanpakuto was just a black handled blade with a Z shaped guard. The others had a Shikai. But I didn't care, I was still hard to beat in a fight and I did enjoy a good fight. It was then that an unbelievable spirit force pressed down on us. Out came the hollow. But he was different from any hollow I had ever seen before. He was no Menos. I ran ahead of the group and charged him, Raman and Rangika close behind, Hinamori fired multiple Hado at the hollow, but he dodged them all, and caught my sword strike with his blade like fingers. What was strange about him was that most hollows are blackish, but this one was more white. He threw us back and shot blades out of his shoulders. Large, Zanpakuto size blades, one slashed against my arm and I cried out in pain as warm blood began to seep out of the wound, Rangika was quick to get to me and heal my wound as Raman covered her. Only Ronok had not entered the fight. Momo had released Tobiume and began to throw fireballs at the hollow, which just stood there, taking the hits. Using that distraction, I drove my blade deep into the hollow, and fired Sokatsui into its chest.

That's when the hollow got mad. It fired a cero directly at Raman, who only managed to counteract it with an ice white cero of his own. The hollow then began to spit cero after cero after cero at the team, who only managed to dodge it. I was safe as I still hung from my blade which was wedged in the things chest. It was only then that Ronok decide to act. Pulling out his Zanpakuto, he put on flat on the ground and began to drink from his sake bottle, inviting the hollow to join him. The hollow replied with three cero blasts and a volley of shoulder blades, all of which, Ronok caught with his hand and dispelled them. The hollow, seeing that it was outmatched, changed forms, back in to its Shinigami state and fled. I chased after it, followed by the rest of the group, they didn't want me to follow it as I didn't have a chance against the thing, but when it opened the door to another dimension, I went all or nothing and jumped in after it. Rangika was the first to follow, then Raman, Hinamori and finally, Ronok, while we were falling through the portal to the other dimension, Ronok told me what that was. It was no hollow, no, it was a perfect Arrancar.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys, i realised that I hadn't done a description or anything of the sort. This is the story of Ichigo's son, Jasen and his friend and what not. i hope you enjoy it and please review, i would really enjoy any contsructive critism that you could provide :D

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I didn't remember the rest of that conversation; I awoke on a sandy shore looking out to the crystal blue waters ahead of me. From what I had heard, this was nothing like Hueco Mundo, sure I was on sand, but it was day time and there was water, not to mention the huge jungle behind me. I picked myself up off of the ground and looked around. The sand was the purest white and the thick, lush jungle behind me a dense, impenetrable green. The sky matched the water, crystal clear. Adjusting my zanpakuto, I decided to walk into the jungle to find my friends. I must have walked forever, around and around in large circles trying to find them. They were nowhere to be found of course; I spent hours calling out their names, which, looking back on it, was not the smartest of ideas and I don't think I'll ever announce my presence in an unknown, most likely extremely dangerous place like that again. I heard a few noises every now and then, small insects and jungle creatures most likely, but I had to be careful and so I drew out my zanpakuto and was extra careful, after all, I had chased an Arrancar into an unknown world that was almost certainly going to be Hueco Mundo, thankfully it wasn't, but even so, I was still wary, my training had taught me to be like that. It took me a while to realise that I would probably get a good idea of where they were if I climbed up somewhere high and looked around. I spotted a particularly old and tall looking tree in the jungle and jumped up it, several branches at a time, swinging through the twisted and mangled branches when I needed to.

Settling on a thick branch, I looked out to the archipelago in front of me. I kicked back and settled in for the night. The sun was setting and I began to wonder where my friends where. I was on only one of four islands. I took my zanpakuto and put it next to me, huddling in my robes, I pulled up my hood. My mum sowed a hood onto my shihaksho and mask that could be pulled up to my eyes to shield my face. The cold was biting but I dealt with it as best I could, I wanted to make a fire, but with the territory unknown, I didn't want to risk making my presence known to any potential enemies that were around. It was hostile territory, I chased the Arrancar into an unknown world and my friends followed me, for all I knew then, they could have been dead or gone or worse. I didn't know it yet, but chasing that Arrancar into the portal was the gravest mistake I had ever made. As I drifted off into sleep, I realised how alone I was and how I had never been in a situation like this, alone, cold and up in a tree in a place I had no knowledge of. I wondered where my friends were, what they were doing, how they were faring. I wondered if Raman was ok, he had always been able to keep the cold away, and I wondered if he was on the glacier island I could see. If anyone could deal with it, it would be him.

I thought of my vice-captain, Hinamori-san and if she was ok, she may be a vice, but I still worried about her. She had a fire type sword, so maybe she made a fire to keep warm. She had always been nice to me and treated me like a little brother ever since I joined her squad. I hoped she was safe and warm and the same for Vice-Captain Kyoraku. Ronok-san was strong, a prodigy who had attained the rank of vice extremely quickly. His father was his captain and his father was Captain-Commander, so he wouldn't have anyone weak as his Vice. Ronok would be fine, at least I hoped so. Lastly, I thought of Rangika, she was capable of surviving, sure, but she was alone, and I wasn't there to protect her. Hopefully she could stay warm and be safe, when I woke up; I'd look for her first. It was thinking of her that got me to sleep. I began to dream, I was home, in soul society. Uncle Byakuya was insulting my dad while mum was quietly trying to stop him, dad had his sword out and was ready to fight uncle to the death, and my sister and I were laughing in the corner at the spectacle. Just another day in the Kurosaki household. It was then that I was flying on the back of a giant eagle, in what I assumed was the heaven that the bible described, clouds and white and gold buildings. The eagle was speaking to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. And that was when I fell, down and down, until I hit the ground. I awoke a second later to hear movement in the background. Feeling around for my weapon, I realised it was still up high in the tree. I understood then that I had to get up that tree. As I jumped up high to reach the top, I was smacked in the stomach, the wind knocked out of me as I fell back to the ground with a sickening thud. Looks like whatever is here was an enemy, I thought. Standing with my back against a tree, I readied myself in a fighting stance and called out to the Arrancar. He accepted my challenge and moved out into the clearing. Too my horror, I realised he wasn't the Arrancar from before. I rushed at him, kicking him in the face; I bounced back and shot Hado number 4, Byakurai. It hit it square in the shoulder, blasting right through. The Arrancar looked at me and smiled. He was tall, lean and strong, with broad shoulders and a tail. His hollow fragment was horns that went down his back to his knees. He pulled out his zanpakuto from its sheath which was slung sideways across his back. it was a huge nodachi and he swung it at me with all his might, I had no chance of blocking it so I spun around it and shot another Hado 4 at its knees. It dodged it and kicked me in the face, sending me flying and crashes along the ground. I slid across the rough jungle floor and flipped back into the fight. I wasn't going to lose, I was going to win, but if I let him think I was going for my zanpakuto, he'd guard it well. I had to get him to get me up there. I ran at him and kicked in a way that he would easily block. When he did, I bounced off his arm and landed on the branch I slept on. Grabbing my zanpakuto I ran at the damn Arrancar, and he ran back. My friends flashed in my mind, my parents and lastly, Rangika. This damn thing would die and I was the one to kill it. I slashed at the Arrancar and he took the hit. He then punched me directly in the face, and kept punching, over and over until I blacked out and he threw me over and I crumpled onto the ground.

_"Why are giving up kid? Get up!"_

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_Whew another Chapter done._


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys, another chapter, please rate and review, i dont own bleach and i never have, if i did, Ichigo would never have become so overpowered.

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"Hey Jase!"

"What Raman?"

"You're boring when you tell the story, and I don't want you ruining my parts, so for this portion, I'll be telling it from my point of view."

"Oh yeah me too, my part is next!"

"Ronok?!"

"Oh and me too, don't forget me Jase-baby."

"Rangika?! Well it looks like I'll be signing of for a bit, I'll let the others tell their parts."

"Good Jase, well my part, the awesome Arrancar part goes a little something like this."

I woke up in a glacier somewhere, the coolness was refreshing, as my release was an ice-type, I always preferred the cool, the ice and the snow. Still, I had to make an effort to find my friends, after all, on my own I didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell… ha-ha, see what I did there, because of my ice type. I know, It was a bad joke, but I wanted to keep my spirits up. I used Sonido and swiftly moved through the snow, and when ice was in my way, I blasted through it with Bara or a Cero until I reached a huge wall of ice, never being one to back down, I scaled the wall, I made handholds with my fists using Hierro. I climbed and climbed until I reached the top of the wall of ice. I wasn't surprised however, to see a giant man garbed in white sitting down waiting for me; after all, I could sense his reiatsu.

"Hello boy." He said.

"Hello yourself, giant," I replied "I suppose you want to fight me now then?

"Not especially boy, but I my General instructed me to do it so, I have no choice."

"oh well, you could just go back and tell your General that I let you go alive, it would be a shame to kill one of my own for no reason and I don't especially like fighting, so how about you go and we pretend like this didn't happen?"

"Unfortunately, I can't do that, but I promise ill make it quick, your death that is."

"Well, I'll do the same for you Giant; may I know your name?"

"You have no need of it."

"Well my name is Raman Garcia, fourth seated officer of the fifth squad in the gotei 13."

"Draw your sword then, Raman Garcia, for I won't kill an unarmed fighter, I do want a fight."

"Oh well, if it can't be avoided, I guess I'll fight, don't complain when I kill you, Hado Number 33: Sokatsui!"

A burst of blue erupted at the Arrancar and I rolled to the side, firing a few more shots of Sokatsui. They erupted on his flesh, but they did close to no damage to him. I then fired of a few Bara's at him and he stood there. When I stopped, he sprinted at me with Sonido and punched me directly in the stomach. I crumpled and spat blood as I flew backwards, dangerously close to the edge of the cliff we were on. He had a good punch I realised and was probably a close quarter's type, where I specialise in long range combat. My strength is in kido so I used Sonido to get behind him and fired Shakkaho, Sokatsui and Byakurai in multiple combinations. I wasn't going to let him get close, over and over again, I fired bursts of Hado and he didn't get a scratch on him, if I could have fought him with a Zanpakuto, I would have, but he seemed to good at close quarter fighting from just that one hit. If my basic Kido wasn't working, I decided to fire a volley of Bara. Not one had an effect. I was shocked, worried and a little scared, some of my go to abilities weren't hurting him at all and I had no intention of releasing my sword, at least not at that moment.

"Oi, Arrancar, why do none of my attacks work on you? I've never known a Hierro on someone who wasn't at least Vasto Lorde to be this strong, so tell me, why aren't I hurting you?"  
"You really don't know? Ahahahahaha, fool, figure it out."

"Dammit, I guess I'll have to."

If he had such a strong Hierro, then I was going to break through it. I charged a Cero in my fist and launched it right at him and I smiled, that was one of my strongest techniques, if he was going to take the hit, then he was fool enough to die from it. I cried out however, when he launched at me with Sonido and hit me in the same spot again, cracking two ribs. This same punch hit with almost four times as much strength as the last one and I collapsed to the ground. I had no idea he was so damn strong. Somehow, after I had hit him with so many Hollow and Shinigami abilities. Not only that, but I was getting tired and running out of reiatsu, so I had to think hard about my next move. Somehow, after I had attacked him, he had gotten stronger, I had only used Reiatsu based attacks and he seemed to be getting stronger from them. Then it hit me, of course, that had to be it. He was absorbing my Reiatsu based attacks and getting stronger from them.

"Hey, Arrancar, you're not simply blocking my attacks, you're absorbing them aren't you? You're absorbing them and getting stronger from them right?"

"Well aren't you a clever one."

"yes, I am rather clever, of course, I can no longer use my main skill set though, I guess I'll have to use my sword, you have an insane punch by the way, to break through my Hierro.

"Well, I do crave your compliments so."

"Your attitude kind of pisses me off, Arrancar, tell me your name, I want to know who I'm about to kill."

"Fair enough, my name is Dominique Montoya, Leader of the third platoon of the fourth Battalion of the New Arrancar Army, and the death of you."

"The New Arrancar Army?!"

"yes, we are uniting under one banner again, we are going to take down the enemy and rule over soul society, Hueco Mundo and the Real world and you will have no choice but to submit to us, as an Arrancar yourself, you should join us.

"Thanks for the offer, unfortunately, I don't especially like or enjoy betraying my friends and teachers and loved ones, as for now though, I've had enough talking, I'm going to kill you now that I know what you are up to as well as your ability.

"so what now?"

"YOU DIE!"

I rushed at him, using Sonido and unsheathed my zanpakuto, I slashed at him with all my fury and… nothing. My sword did nothing but bash against him. Close quarters didn't work, neither did kido or Arrancar abilities.

"Ahahahahaha, I do happen to have a powerful Hierro my friend."

I was sure I was done, this guy could absorb my kido and he could block my sword strikes. I had to think. I had only one chance of beating this bastard.

"Oi Dominique, listen closely, because I'm about to show you something very special, watch closely fool, for I'm going all out."

"What?"

"**_Freeze, Oso Polar!"_**

My Ice white long sword shattered and the bluish ripple within grew and covered me. When I tore through it, my teeth were elongated and my hands became claws. My body was covered in pure white fur and my head gained a bear shaped helmet with my eyes glowing blue and animalistic. I looked at Dominique and growled out loud, a deep, animalistic growl My reiatsu grew and flared.

"Nice release Raman, you're reiatsu is quite impressive."

"Are you going to release or not?"

"I'm afraid I don't need to, not against a weakling like you."

I looked at him and laughed a powerful, throaty laugh. I fired a cero out of each of my claws. That's my hollow ability, Cero Descarga, or, Cero Volley. I can fire multiple ceros in a volley from my claws. Also, they are much faster and stronger than the average cero. They all hit Dominique directly in the chest and he stood there and took it, but when I launched it again, he moved. That was strange; he had never dodged my attacks beforehand. But then I thought about it as I shot more and more ceros at him, a sponge can only absorb so much water before it leaks out or bursts, and something told me he either wasn't leaking reiatsu fast enough or he couldn't get rid of it now and I saw my chance. I fired more and more Cero's at him until he stopped moving.

"What have you done to me? I CAN'T MOVE!"

"Oh yes, in addition to my Cero's firing faster more powerful Cero's in volleys, they are also imbued with ice, so anything they touch spontaneously freeze's in less than one minute, you my friend are stuck in ice harder than steel and can't get out of it until I let you, not only that but I know how to beat you. I'm going to fill you with so much reiatsu that you are going to burst, so long Arrancar, you were a good fight, but it's over."

I charged up my most powerful technique, Gran Rey Cero Descarga or Gran Rey Cero Volley, the most powerful type of cero, ten time directly where his soul-chain would be. I held it there for ten seconds and jumped back. Ice-blue coloured reiatsu began to shine out from his eyes and mouth and he began to swell until he exploded in a beautiful orb of My reiatsu. He was dead and I had won the battle. I sealed my sword and collapsed into the snow, falling asleep, wondering about my friends and hoping they were okay.

_"See ya on the other side, Jase."_

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_well, i quite enjoyed writing that, i liked it and i hope you did too. R and R please :)_


	7. Chapter 7

Hey all, another chapter, again, i dont own bleach, never have and if i did, you would see me like pandaman ;)

* * *

"Oi Raman, Shove over, it's my turn to tell the story!"

"Oh, Ronok, of course, I was done for now anyway."

"All right, it's time for the best part of the story, my part!"

I woke up to the most horrible sight possible, lying on the ground, in a broken, shattered heap, was my best friend. My poor gourd, broken, and even worse, my precious alcohol all over the ground. Why, oh why, couldn't my zanpakuto have broken, or Jase, it wouldn't be a big deal if Jase had smashed on the ground, instead of my precious gourd. Dusting myself off, I walked around, quiet as could be, all though the quarry I seemed to be in didn't provide much cover. Just a whole bunch of craggy rocks and small outcrops. For an island, it must have started out as just one big rock that was worn away from the waves. All this stone and earth broken down after years of surf. Looking around I saw two islands to my right and one to my left. One was sandy and huge, there was nothing I could see there and it was too far away to flash step, so I was stuck, on an island with a bunch of stone surrounding me. Looking at another island, I could see what was unmistakably Raman's ice white cero, his thing was the cool and he was immersed in it. Then I had a funny thought, I was sure that inexperienced kid Jase was running around screaming people's names and giving his position away. I'm harsh on the kid and give him a lot of crap, but I do like him.

Using Shunpo to move through the shadows and rocks, I covered ground quickly; my first priority was to find my friends and my next was to kill the Arrancar we followed here. I've never failed a mission before and on the honour of my father, The Captain Commander, I would lead my team out of here and kill that Arrancar and any who were with it. It was stifling hot and I opened up my shihaksho so as to cool myself off. There was a lot of shade and it was getting hot even in the shade. That's when I knew something was wrong. Whoever was here was leaking reiatsu like crazy and I had a theory that he didn't realise that I was there because he wasn't releasing enough to be battle ready. I was up for a battle anyway and I used my Shunpo to land in front of the Arrancar and announced my presence.

"Hello Arrancar." I said

"Shinigami! How did you find me?" he exclaimed, eyes widening.

"Well you're leaking reiatsu like crazy, I'm sober and you don't smell especially good either."

"How dare you insult me  
Shinigami?!"

"Well I kind of just felt like doing it and as you can see, I did."

"Damn you! Eat this!"

He leapt at me and aimed a punch right at my head, I knocked his fist aside and spin kicked him in the face. He fell back and looked right at me, hate in his eyes and his red hot, flaming reiatsu flaring and licking at my feet. He smiled an evil smile and spat a Cero at me. It was fast, but I was faster and I dodged it and advanced and slammed my knee into his chest and then flash stepped behind him and drove my elbow into his back. He fell forward and coughed up blood, the he used Sonido to create distance between us and shot several Bara at me. Then he used Cero after Cero to keep me on my toes. I used Shunpo to get through the volleys of hollow attacks. He had a weak Hierro and my punches could break through it. I smashed through his Hierro with a downwards spinning kick to his shoulder and he collapsed to one knee.

"Damn it Shinigami, how is your punch so strong that it can break through my Hierro?"

"Out of the four Shinigami combat techniques, mine rank in strength as Hakuda, Hoho, Zanjutsu and Kido. As of now, I have been using my Hakuda on you and you haven't stood a chance, be glad I haven't released my sword, or you would be dead by now."

"Damn you Shinigami. Fine then, let's see how you cope with my Zanpakuto release. My name is Juan Reyes. Now **_Cry Ardiente Garra!_**" (Fiery Talon)

As he said that, his hands became bony talons with red markings twisting around his bone enclosed arms, small and spiky bone wings sprouted from his back and a beak made of bone formed around his face. Flames spat out of his wings and talons, extending them further and further until his wings were several feet longer and wider and his talons longer as well. He eyed me down and challenged me to try and hit him. I launched at him and threw a punch right at his face when his wings flared with flame and covered his body, searing my hand. I leapt back and looked at my hand; they were only minor burns as I moved my hand away quickly. Again and again I probed his defences and yet nothing, he blocked all of my attacks with his fire and would slash me with his flaming talons. He had backed me into a corner, with no close range attacks working, I realised I had to do what I had to do.

**_"Maul, Ishitategami!" _**(Stone Lion)

A sudden burst of silver-green reiatsu flowed around me and my zanpakuto changed into a Monk-spade with sliver rings and tassels, the majority of it was made of the purest jade and spun it around in a flashy motion around till it rested on my shoulder. It felt good to have my weapon back out again, after it being sealed for so long. It was smooth, strong and cold to the touch.

"What is that?"

"this, Juan, is my zanpakuto release, the most powerful Earth-Stone type Zanpakuto, Ishitategami, allows me to generate and manipulate stone with my reiatsu, as powerful as your release is, trust me, mine is stronger. My name is Ronok Kyoraku, Vice-Captain of the first squad of the Gotei 13, now watch as I kill you."

I smashed my spade end into the ground and massive spikes of earth shot out at Juan's feet, slicing one of his feet clean off he fell back and yelped out as I threw huge spears of stone out of the spade end of my weapon. He dodged them, but barely and pressed the attack by generating reiatsu and throwing a huge crescent shaped slash of stone at Juan. He tried to evade, but couldn't and it caught him right in the chest, slicing him right across and leaving a gaping gash in his chest. When I walked over to him, he looked at me and smiled. Then he cried a tear and his wound healed.

"My release is a phoenix, and as a phoenix, my tears have healing properties, I'm afraid you have no chance in hell at killing me when I can heal all wounds."

He then shot at me, his wounds healed and fresh for the fight, slashing me across the chest with burning talons, sealing the wound as well. I jumped back, but he pressed the attack and I took searing wound after searing wound. he must have been the strongest because I had been on the defensive for the majority of the fight, but I wasn't giving in that easily. I stood my ground and when he attacked me, I created a shield made out of stone in front of me. His hand hit it and the strangest thing happened, his previous flame had heated up to extreme levels and he melted through the stone, creating magma. It was then that I had an idea.

"Oi Arrancar, I'm about to show you one of my strongest techniques, only because you've earned it. This technique is a variation on my own fathers attack, Kageoni. I'm about to hide in the earth and you won't be able to tell where I'm striking from, good luck Juan, it was fun fighting you."

At that moment, I was hiding in the earth and the idiot was playing right into my trap. Shooting jets of flame in one, wide circle, melting the stone in the quarry, what he didn't realise was that I was hiding directly under his feet. As soon as I thought there was enough lava, I made my move, striking out of the very earth itself, I appeared behind him and struck him right in the spine with a stone spear I made as wide as a shield and it impaled him, sending him flying into the lava he had created so foolishly.

"you fought well, Juan Reyes, I shall remember you and how you fought well, I'm sorry I had to kill you like this." I said as I watched him sink into the lava and burn away, he made no cry or shriek of pain as I believe I killed him with my spear of earth.

I used shunpo to get to the shore opposite to the sand island. I made a bridge out of stone and walked to the next island; I took my smaller bottle of whisky and began to drink. After a good fight with un-nursed wounds, it made the pain go away. I also drank from the bottle of healing liquid that Captain Unohana gave me and I drank it. Hot flesh began to knit on my chest and anywhere else I was wounded and I smiled, it felt good to be healed, I'd have to thank Captain Unohana later and I lay down, resting, healing and chugging whisky. Id catch up with the others later.

"Jase, the rest is up to you."

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im glad to have another chapter done, i hope you like, Rate and Review. Winter is coming.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ok, it's me, the cutest, hottest, sexiest babe in Soul Society, Rangika Hisagi, and I'm here to tell my part of the story."

"She isn't afraid to toot her own horn, eh Ronok?"

"Yeah Raman, but don't tell Jase over there, he'd go nuts if you badmouthed his precious, perfect angel."

"Did you two say something?!"

"No, no, not at all buddy, nothing at all, just telling Ronok how awesome you are."

"Whatever, smartass."

"Guys, be quiet, it's my turn to tell the story."

* * *

I woke up with the water seeping up my legs in waves, getting higher and higher. I felt hot. Looking behind me, I saw it was a desert island, no trees, no shade and just a whole lot of sand. I got up and sighed, readjusting my shihaksho so I showed just enough cleavage to tease the boys when I found them and to keep somewhat cool in the stifling heat. The island was huge, the sand stretching out as far as I could see, but I was glad to feel a familiar reiatsu. It was Vice-Captain Hinamori, out far away, I could also feel Raman's reiatsu and the small traces of Ronok's reiatsu, he was about to start fighting from what I could tell. I was worried, I couldn't feel Jase's reiatsu, no matter how much I felt for it and tried to sense it. Was he dead? Was he gone? Was he ok? I wanted nothing more than to know the answers to these questions but I had to push on and keep going, I'd find Jase and the others later on. My zanpakuto was slung diagonally across my back, much like Jase's dad and I wrapped my hands around the handle. It reassured me that I was safe, after all, I was stuck on a desert island, which could easily be Las Noches and I felt fairly vulnerable. I walked through the sand, not using Shunpo as to save energy in case I needed it.

Lazily following Momo's reiatsu, I figured she would be following mine and I wasn't in any serious rush and I could take my time in finding her. In my shihaksho was a small pouch that I kept an energy bar in, and I took it out and nibbled at it, we had enough food for a week in our backpacks and I wanted to ration it so it would last longer and I kept walking towards Momo. That's when I was shocked to feel her reiatsu flare and I Flash Stepped to her reiatsu. It took no more than ten steps and I found her facing off against an Arrancar. He looked at me and smiled, it was him against us. Momo leapt at him and swung her zanpakuto, the giant Arrancar dodged and threw a kick at her, she used Shunpo to dodge and again to dash at the hybrid, slashing at it, while it easily dodged and spin-kicked her so hard that she flew back and smashed into the ground, skidding and rolling. From what I could tell, she had a few broken ribs and she looked it. She coughed up blood and crawled up from the ground and released **_Tobiume_**. She moved at the Arrancar and shot a mixture of kido and fireballs. They all hit the Arrancar and he showed no discomfort or pain as the attacks left no marks at all.

That's when he began the counter attack he looked right at me and nodded his head, as if to say "you're next" and then used Sonido to get right up to Hinamori, where he punched her in the stomach with so much force that I felt the spiritual pressure push down on me and I almost fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the Arrancar was keeping up his relentless assault on the Vice, slamming punch after punch after kick after punch into her and when he stopped, and she slumped to the ground. I thought she had died but she got up and, with blood all over her young face, attacked the Arrancar without mercy, sprinting at it and swinging her blade at its face. He caught **_Tobiume _**and smiled an evil, toothy smile at her; the he snapped it and threw the blade shard at me. I dodged it and looked back to see its hand on her face, holding her broken body up to his eye level. I could see the fear in her eyes as the tears flowed from them when the Arrancar charged his Cero blast. I moved as fast as I could but with his other hand, he kept me at bay with multiple Bara blasts.

It was too late.

I couldn't get to her.

The Cero erupted from his hand and hit Momo with its full force. Momo couldn't have survived that from so close and I knew she was gone. When he finally released her body, she fell to the floor. I swear I could see it in slow motion, every move of her body is burned into my mind and I wept. Uncontrollably, I wept. She had died, right in front of my eyes and I knew there was no chance of me seeing her again, hearing her voice again, and seeing her smile again. I thought of Captain Hitsugaya and how he would take the news, she had always been special to him, and, out of everyone, he would take the news the worst, or Jase, he saw her as a big sister, and Captain Hirako, who had known her as his Vice for a long, long time. It was deeply upsetting and as soon as I saw the Arrancar grin at me, a sickening, bloodthirsty grin, the bottomless well of grief began to fill with an anger that threatened to consume me. Gripping my zanpakuto in both hands so hard that my knuckles turned white, I dashed at the Arrancar and, flowing with reiatsu, severed its arm clean off. It screamed a terrible scream and then released its sword, the blood was pounding against my ears, so I couldn't hear what his release was, but he became that awful monstrosity we fought in Karakura. Shooting several blades out of its shoulders at me, I dodged, ducking and weaving through the barrage of swords. I slashed it again, this time on its shoulder; he laughed and protected his shoulder with a blade. Then he fired one at me, slicing clean across my forearm. I yelped out and looked at it, my silver reiatsu flowing around me and I made an important decision.

"Arrancar, you have done a great evil by killing Momo. I will not forgive you or give you any quarter, so prepare yourself for your death. **_Spark and Ignite, Arashi Boruto!_**"(Tempest Bolt)

Then my katana replicated itself and became a double bladed sword. The curves of the blades were opposite to each other. One blade had fire like ripples moving through it while another side of the blade had blue-purple lightning like ripples flowing through it. I faced the Arrancar and stared at him with fiery anger in my eyes and charged him, spinning my sword, I slashed him with the fire end and he yelped with pain. What he didn't realise was that the end of my blade with the flame on it emits fire and heat as well as friction, I burnt him where I cut him and then spun around and slashed at his shoulder where he had no arm with the lightning end. He tried to generate a blade but couldn't. A look of confusion flashed across his face and he stared at me, then in a deep, guttural voice, asked me a question."

"What have you done to me woman?"

"My zanpakuto is very special, you see, in all of Soul Society, it is the only dual-element zanpakuto. On one end of my blade, I can generate fire, heat and friction while on the other end of my sword, I have lightning, I can shock enemies, shoot bolts out similar to Byakurai and I can paralyse people with that end too. Surrender, and I'll make your end quick and painless, refuse and you'll die a slow, painful death. I hope you understand, do you surrender?"

"Hahahahahahaha, foolish little girl, do you honestly think that I have been using all of my strength?"

And that's when he regrew his arm, made entirely out of bone and with a huge sword extending from his wrist. He used Sonido to get to me and he slashed me across my arm and I returned the cut to his arm with my own, sloppy miss-timed, miss-targeted strike. I aimed at his chest and I hit his arm. Had I impaled his chest, I would have won, but I was shaky. I had lost a friend, and I was fighting someone not even a vice captain could defeat. Worst of all, my sword just slid off his bone arm, not even paralysing him at all. That when I considered it to be all or nothing. I did not have Bankai but I was about to use my most powerful technique. As I dodged his attacks as best I could, I leaked reiatsu into my sword's fire end, sending out friction into the air. I also cut him as much as I could, knowing that he would heal the smaller wounds with metal. He still managed to wound me several time and blood was leaking out of my shihaksho all over, my arms were cut in several places, I had a slash just above my breasts and a clean stab through my leg. I had just enough reiatsu and strength left for this attack and when I led him to the spot where it be most effective, I let loose my attack. Moving my zanpakuto over my head, I began to spin it in circles with both hand and began the attack chant.

"_Goddess of Tempest, Hear My Prayer, Friction and Fire, Thunder and Flame, Destroy all Enemies with Thunder and Conquer with Flame, Strike Down, My Final Heaven!_"

With that, all the friction in the area gathered together and created storm clouds, accompanied by a sense of cold dread filling the air. Then, with a flash and a crack, a thunderbolt struck down from the clouds, guided by my zanpakuto. Completely drained, I fell to my knees and could barely keep my face off the sand. Looking to see the enemy dead on the ground, I was shocked to see, while near dead and burnt all over. He wasn't dead. My damn luck screwed me over as I knew that at that point, there was a potential chance of survival if the person's heart was on its first part of its beat. I had no chance, drained and with close to no reiatsu left, my chances of surviving were at zero per cent. My life flashed before my eyes as he walked at me, slow deliberate steps as he created a blade out of his shoulder and raised it over my head. I thought of my loved ones, my friends and the one who was somehow both. And I calmly accepted my death. Except it never came. Someone blocked the sword with their own sword. I passed out as I realised who it was that saved me.

_Of course it was you…..Thank you…Jase._


	9. Chapter 9

Jase here, I'm back for my part of the story, you won't be hearing from the others for a time, but they'll be back, I promise.

* * *

I stirred with an angelic voice calling my name. Then I jumped up when I heard an eagle's cry, louder than any roar or any horn. And I nearly fell off of the feather bed I seemed to be on. What was worse was that I was almost certainly a thousand plus feet off of the ground. I couldn't see the land below and all I could see was clouds and then I looked to my side and realised I was riding on a giant, golden eagle. He turned his head at me and his eyes met mine and I could swear if he had lips, he would be grinning.

_"__Only just notice me did you?" _he chuckled

"Yeah, tell me, who are you? Where am I? did I die fighting that Arrancar, this doesn't look like soul society but what people in the real world describe as heaven, even though I don't see any pearly gates, or white buildings." I asked

_"__All your questions will be answered in good time my friend, all in good time, and just look above us and you'll see the city of white."_

"Amazing, this is… heaven?"

_"__As I said before my friend, all in good time."_

I reclined back into his golden feathers and exhaled. I closed my eyes and realised how tired I was… and then thought, wait a minute, If I was dead, then I couldn't be tired.

"Oi eagle, I'm alive and that means my body is in danger, tell me what I want to know, and be quick about it."

_"__Ah, my friend, I'm glad you passed my test, had you fallen asleep before, you would have died, and that would have been a problem. As to where we are, we are in my dwelling, your soul, you are _

_still alive and no, this is not heaven, this is only the world I have created to be my dwelling. And as for who I am, I'm sure you know by now."_

"Are you….? No, you couldn't be, but of course you are… YOU'RE MY ZANPAKUTO SPIRIT, AREN'T YOU?!"

_"__Yes" _he chuckled again _"I am your zanpakuto spirit. I had hoped not to reveal myself for some time, yet, that seems to be out of my control. Still, it's important that I reveal myself to you. If I didn't, you wouldn't be alive. I shielded you from that last hit with my reiatsu, so you aren't dead, but by all accounts, you should be._

"So, does that mean ill learn your name now?"

_"__One thing at a time, first of all, I have a few questions for you."_

"Ok then. Shoot."

_"__What does the eagle symbolise to you?" _

"Flight, honour, predatory instinct, speed and cunning. They are clever, fast and honourable with the ability to kill."

_"__Good, child, good. Next, how would you describe yourself?"_

"Truthfully, and I don't mean to brag, but I would say I am fast clever and honourable and I can kill too."

_"__And do you know why I am an eagle?"_

"Because an eagle is all those things and more, because you are a more complete picture of myself and my strength. Because you are my soul and sword."

_"__Precisely right boy, precisely right and for answering so well, you have earned my reward. Look at me and what do you see?"_

"A golden eagle, golden feathers and golden eyes, yet your beak and talons seem to be black as onyx. You are a black and gold eagle."

_"__Yes, now wake my friend, scream and take flight. Slash you're enemies to death with your talons and impale them with your beak."_

I shot up and gasped. Looking at my sword next to me I smiled, grabbing it with renewed vigour, I let it rest on my shoulder, much like my father does. He looked at me, assuming I was dead and grinned, he seemed excited for a better fight and I smiled. He had no idea what the difference in our strength had become. Now that I was refreshed and with new power and a stronger reiatsu, he had no chance, if I didn't want to test my strength out, I would have killed him right then and there, but I was resigned to spread my wings.

"Oi Arrancar, make peace with yourself. You are about to die. _Scream and Take Flight, Kinkurowashi! (Black Gold Eagle)_

A golden reiatsu flared around me and my sword turned to black in my hands. The guard was black, the handle was black and the blade was the black of onyx. Around the blade was a golden eagle pattern. He grinned at me, then cackled and screamed at me how much he loved the idea of a challenge. He was a fool he leapt at me and I heard Kinkurowashi inside me.

_"__My friend, listen closely. I am an elemental zanpakuto. I wanted to let you discover this for yourself but we have little time. I have no attacks so to speak, however think of me as the wind personified. With me in your hands, you control the wind. Your reiatsu is so powerful that it leaks out from the sword, you are your father but with better control. You can create the wind and you can control the wind, so have fun."_

I realised that the wind was my playground and started small. As he rushed at me, I swung my sword at him and a large grey-green slash was sent flying out of it. It caught him by surprise and he didn't block the slash. Poor fool never knew what hit him as it bifurcated him from his right shoulder to his left hip. Blood sprayed everywhere but I put my sword in a guard position in front of me and it hit an invisible barrier. From what I could tell, it was condensed wind that became a shield or it was being held there, away from me. As of then, I realised I could kill and shield with my sword, and so easily too. I sat down and laughed. A relaxed, tired and relieved laugh. I had fought death and death had died. As a wave of exhaustion washed over me, I nearly fell asleep. That was until a huge splash of Rangika's reiatsu created a silver glow around me. I knew she wouldn't flare that much for no reason and I flash stepped towards where it came from. I hit a shore and I realised I wouldn't be able to cross the ocean separating us. Then it hit me, I would flash step and then I would create solidified wind below me and flash step of that. It would require precise concentration and I would only be able to do it once, so the timing was everything.

I flash stepped and when I was about to hit the ground, I used my sword to create a wind shield below me. It wasn't a very good job and my foot sunk into the wind. I pulled it out and flash stepped to where I was almost at the island….and then I fell. I was lucky that as I was falling, I accidently swung Kinkurowashi and the wind boosted me across the gap I needed to cross. I smashed into the ground and ate sand. I'm talking a lot of sand. But I didn't have time to be thinking about that and I moved as quickly as I could to Rangika. She was on her knees about to be executed by the Arrancar from Karakura and my heart stopped. I didn't care who he was or who he thought he was; he threatened Rangika and that was an unforgivable crime to me. Before he could deal the killing blow, I intercepted the strike and released a pulse of wind from my sword, sending him flying back. He crashed into the ground and I knew he was wounded.

"What you have done is unforgivable and I will not hold back on you, nor will I give you a quick death. You dared to hurt a woman, let alone this woman behind me. That is Rangika Hisagi, my friend and the girl I want to protect as much as my own family. You have harmed her and now, you will die. _First Wind: Eagles Wing_!"

I grabbed the sword with both hands and held it out to my side. Then wind began to generate around it and when it was as powerful as I wanted, I threw the huge eagle wing shaped slash at him. That attack is brutal as it is one huge cut with lots of little cuts inside it to act as the feathers. When I was through with him, he was un-recognisable. Bleeding all over, he was covered head to toe with his own red life force and he gurgled while blood dribbled out from his throat and his mouth. I walked up to him, taking careful, slow and deliberate steps, I looked down at him with pure hatred and disgust and drove my blade between his eyes until the hilt was sheathed in his head.

I pulled it out and sealed it, sheathing it as I did so; I walked over to the unconscious girl who I had just killed for. I picked her up and cradled her in my arms. Moving over to a group of rocks, I gently rest her back against the walls of stone. She stirred before I put her down however and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you" she said and I blushed and smiled. Yet even as I did so, she looked at me with tears in her eyes. When I asked her what was wrong, she let the tears fall and she recounted what had happened with Momo. I closed my eyes and let my head fall. I told her I'd be back as I was going to look for Momo's body. She deserved a proper burial and id be damned if she wasn't going to get one. As I reached her body, I met Ronok and Raman, the latter distraught over Momo's death. Ronok had her body and his hand on Raman's shoulder; he looked at me with regret and kindness. He knew what I was going through, and sympathised. As we walked, Raman was silent as Ronok and I began to converse. My getting over that was due to only his comfort.

"I'm guessing that this is your first time losing a friend in battle?" Ronok asked.

"Yeah, she has been like an older sister to me since I joined the squad." I replied.

"Jase, was… was Rangika there, at the end I mean?"

"Yeah, she was. She hasn't taken it too well either."

"Well, that's to be expected. What you need to understand kid, is that in our line of work, people die, and that is the sad truth to being a Shinigami, but it is for them that we continue to fight,that we kill every single hollow bastard that led to their deaths. I know you're grieving and you have every right to, but if not for the sake of yourself, Raman and Rangika, don't let it consume you, for Momo. She would have wanted you to continue on. And if you ever need me, I'm your friend Jasen, I'm here. That go's for you too Raman, you two have proven yourselves to be Vice-Captain grade fighters and I'm glad to have known you."

"Thanks Ronok." I said

"Yeah, thanks man." Said Raman.

"Oh and Jase, if you want, I can talk to Rangika, I know it might be hard for you, I'm not blind."

"Yeah thanks, that would be good." I smiled; a solemn, sad smile.

When we got back, Ronok threw me and Raman his mini flask, and we shared sake in Momo's memory as Ronok comforted Rangika. After half an hour, she stopped crying and came to join us at our fire. She rested her head against my shoulder and fell asleep. She was so warm that I found myself gradually sleeping too. While closing my eyes, I heard them talking. It took me a few days to realise who they were talking about however.

"Do you think he'll make a move?"

"My little brother? No, not anytime soon anyway."

"She likes him as well you know."

"Yeah of course, she asks me about him a lot. The amount of times she's asked me "what does Jase think of me", I swear if I got money every time she asked me that, I'd be richer than the Kuchiki's."

"I wonder if I have to force the kid and her together."

"Yeah, we could freeze their legs till they admitted their feelings, maybe we could bury them waist deep in your earth?"

"Yeah maybe, I'd have better luck getting a threesome with Yoruichi and Soi Fon than getting them together, and that wouldn't be hard if you got the cat on board, the bee would come flying after hahaha."

"Yeah that would be fun, Jase and I have been trained by Yoruichi. She really is the goddess of flash, or rather, the goddess of flashing hahaha."

"Well aren't you two lucky."

"Yeah hahaha, I'd say we are, but she's not who I'm after."

"And who's that?"

"Maybe I'll tell ya someday, Jase doesn't even know, he'd probably kill me if I told him."

"It isn't… it's not Ran-"

"No, no, no, of course not, Jase would kill me because he's scared of this girl's father."

"Ah, say no more, oh look at Jase hahaha, he's so whipped"

"Shut up you two" I said.

"Go to sleep kid, well wake you when it's time to figure out how were going to get out."

"All right, don't wake Rangika, she needs her sleep."

The last thing I remember before I fell asleep against her was the grin that Ronok and Raman shared while looking at us.

_No Ronok, you definitely are not blind._


	10. Chapter 10

I dreamt that night; I flew on an eagle with Raman, Ronok and Rangika. We flew to my home in Soul Society and we met my father and mother and sister. Then, as we ate, Zangetsu, the sword, stabbed my father right through his chest, and he died in my mother's arms. I woke up in a cold sweat. Judging by the moon, it was early morning and I knew I wasn't going to sleep again. The desert night was freezing; yet I didn't care, I walked away from the fire, to the shore of the island and dipped my feet in the warm ocean. I laid back and thought of the last few days and then it hit me. It was my fault that Momo was dead. If I had the patience to see that the Arrancar was setting an obvious trap, we might not have lost a beloved friend. I placed my head in my hands and let the stress slip from my body. The guilt remained however, as I knew it would and the thought that I at least wasn't there to see it comforted me slightly.

"Thinking about Momo?"

"Rangika?!" I was shocked, I thought myself quiet enough as not to wake her. I was mistaken, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"It's hard to sleep when your pillow moves out from under you."

"Yeah, sorry about that." I sighed.

"So what are you thinking about?" she asked as she took a seat in the sand next to me.

"Momo, I mean, if it wasn't for me, she would be alive and well."

"How so?"

"Well, I followed that damn blade monster in here, and you all followed me. If I had have thought it through, she would be alive and you and the others wouldn't be hurt."

"You're not unharmed either you know."

"I know, but that's no matter, my wounds were healed somehow, my sword did it for me."

"Look, the guilt you're feeling, we both know people die," she leaned against me, "and it's very sad, yet you can't be blamed for another's actions. I was there at the end, and I saw her fall to the

ground, I saw everything. I know what you're feeling; had I been stronger, I could have stopped it and she'd be alive too."

She began to shed soft tears onto my shoulder and I lifted her chin to face me.

"Rangika, look at me, you have nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault and my fault alone. I won't have you feel responsible for my actions."

"Alone, yours alone. One day, Jasen, you're going to have to realise that we are all here with you, fighting the same battle, the same war as you and we have your back, just as we know that you have ours."

I smiled at that.

We turned around to see the sun rising. With the gold on the blue water, it appeared almost silver. The perfect mix of the two and my violet eyes met her blue. A look that lasted a lot shorter than it felt. She leaned in and I did too. I could smell her perfume and see myself in her eyes. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes and I felt her breath on my face.

It was a perfect moment.

Then my douche bag brother had to come and ruin it for me by screaming my name out. We pulled back and blushed, giggled and looked away. He immediately realised the situation, I knew he did, and filled us in on what was about to happen. We were going to get out of here, but Ronok had no idea how and so he wanted our help. When we weren't there, he sent Raman out to find us and he happened to have the worst timing in the world. We trekked back to the fire place without talking. Our faces were burning and it wasn't hot. We shared a few glances, but we'd shy away after. I vowed at that moment that one day, I was going to return the favour to Raman. When we got back to camp, we sat down as Ronok explained the situation to us.

"The way I see it, we are in a place that is similar to Soul Society. The fact that there are several different biomes around in such a small place indicates that where we are isn't natural, so, does anyone have any ideas as to get out?" said Ronok.

"If it isn't natural, and it's similar to soul society, it must be made out of reishi." Rangika added.

"So how do we get out?" I asked.

"Well I tried opening a garganta before but I was too drained to make one powerful enough so, any suggestions?"

"Of course, it's so simple, how did I not think of it before!" exclaimed Rangika.

"What?" we all asked together.

"If we all use our Shikai, then all touch Raman's sword, we could feed enough reiatsu into him to open a garganta big enough for all of us!"

"Well done girl, that should work, I'll start; _Maul Ishitategami!"_

"_Spark and Ignite, Arashi Boruto!_"

"_Scream and Take Flight, Kinkurowashi!_"

We all placed our hands on Raman's sword and fed as much reiatsu as we could into the blade. He glowed with green, silver, gold and ice white as we pumped our spirit force inside him. He then flared his reiatsu and opened a garganta. The air in front of us cracked and split open like the mouth of a demon and we climbed through, Rangika first, Ronok, me and then Raman. As Raman led the way, we stepped on the cracked path leading out into the light of the real world. When we finally clambered out of the garganta, we sat down for a moment and we all collapsed due to the exhaustion of the previous few days. Ronok had made sure to place Momo in a safe place and then he too slept.

I was woken by Raman's urgent voice and I knew something was wrong. As I sprang up, I drew my zanpakuto and he signalled me to be quiet. In the distance, we could see flares of kido and cero and white blurs clashing with black. I woke up Rangika and he woke Ronok and we headed for the battle. Flash stepping through the city to reach the battle field and I saw a huge knife slice through an Arrancar. There were at least two dozen Arrancar and only three Shinigami that I could see. My mother, my father and my sister. Dad fired Getsuga Tensho and destroyed another Arrancar. Mum had Sode no Shirayuki out and froze an enemy with her first dance, and then Mai (my sister if you've forgotten) smashed through it with a kick that would make Yoruichi proud. And yet more appeared.

"Damn it, so he wasn't lying!" yelled Raman.

"What are you talking about?" Ronok asked as we got closer.

"The opponent I fought, he mentioned something about the Arrancar flocking to one banner and forming the new Arrancar Army, much larger than the last one. I thought he was just trying to scare me but he must not have been lying!"

"We have to get back to soul society, before they make their move!" Rangika said, worried.

"I know, but my family is down there and I have to help them, you three go back; this is my fight!"

"How many times do I have to tell you Jasen? Your fights are our fights, were with you!" said Rangika.

"I'm with you brother!"

"Yeah kid, till the end."

"All right then, let's do this, _Scream and Take Flight Kinkurowashi!_"

The others released and we dropped down from the tower we were on. I blocked a strike aimed at my mother and sent wind out of my sword to slash and kill the hybrid. Rangika had released her sword and was spewing flame out her sword, burning three Arrancar to death. Raman hadn't released his sword and he was killing Arrancar left, right and centre with his kido and sword. He didn't bother to release his zanpakuto and he was doing fine. Ronok hadn't even pulled out his sword and was breaking Arrancar necks with his kicks. All seemed well with the seven of us destroying their ranks until the Dangai opened. Out came what must have been the entire twelfth squad and they just stood there as we fought the Arrancar. Ronok yelled at them to help but they didn't move. Mayuri just stood there and didn't move, grinning that sickening smile of his. Then with a wave of his hand, his squad began to open a garganta and headed into Hueco Mundo. He and Nemu remained while close to four dozen Arrancar climbed through another garganta. What was the most horrifying thing was the fact that they formed up behind Mayuri.

Then he grinned and commanded them at us. Ronok screamed at him and Raman looked at Nemu, crestfallen. I dashed to my mother and sister, guarding them with my life. My father appeared next to me and had a stern look. The look my mother had told me he had donned for most of his teenage years. He told Mai and my mother to get back and run to cover and they told him to get lost. I used _First Wind: Eagles Wing _and sliced through five of the Arrancar whilst Ronok had released his sword and with one move, speared through five Arrancar with his jade spears. Raman too had released and was firing volleys of ceros constantly. He killed close to twenty of the Arrancar, but there were still about two dozen left. That was until Rangika used _My Final Heaven_ and wiped out close to fifteen of them. After that almost victory, Mayuri and Nemu started to act. Nemu moved at Raman and they began a kido shootout and Mayuri moved at me and Ronok while Rangika rested against a building and my mother and sister went to protect her. Mayuri and his nine Arrancar troops moved to face us and we dispatched the Arrancar with relative ease. When Mayuri was about to slash me with Ashisogi Jizo, Zangetsu was thrust between us and I was saved. My father began to duel Mayuri for some time, while I supported him and Ronok went to help Raman.

Dad and I fought Mayuri well. As he flash stepped at us, we threw slashes from our swords, his was Getsuga and mine was First Wind. They hit him full and he laughed as his arm spread out into a shield. Then he flash stepped at me and kicked me square in the face, then he swung Ashisogi Jizo and I pulsed wind out of my sword to block it. He then smashed me right in the face with the hilt of his sword. I spiralled down to the ground and my face hit the concrete. Blood welled around me and I felt woozy. My mother moved at me and used her limited healing skills to heal what she could. I picked myself up and realised that while dad had his limiter on, we had no chance without one big attack. Raman and Mai had the idea to hit Mayuri with one large kido attack, leaving a gap for dad, Ronok and I to strike.

Ronok covered Raman from Nemu and he took up the main fight. My mother, Mai and Raman began charging their strongest attacks. My mother and sister both used the double Sokatsui kido and Raman began charging _Gran Rey Cero Descarga_. Dad and I began desperately fighting Mayuri off of the three below. We blocked and used as many long range attacks as we could to keep the Traitor Captain away from the three we were guarding. Raman gave me the all clear and we moved to them, to make sure he didn't get them from behind and Raman let off his ten ceros and my mother sent out her powerful kido.

But my sister didn't.

She turned around.

Looked me right in the eye.

And loosed her kido right at my father.

Dad took the hit with full force and collapsed in front of me. Time seemed to move slower then. Mai kicked mum in the face and shot Byakurai through Raman's legs so he couldn't move. Mayuri flash stepped towards us and slashed dad's sword arm with Ashisogi Jizo, paralysing it so he couldn't fight properly. I screamed at him and slashed at him with all I had in me and then I stopped.

_"__Let me loose._" A voice growled inside of me.

"Who are you?"

"_I am your inner strength and base fighting urge_."

"But I met my zanpakuto spirit."

"_And I'm not him. I'm your rage and fury, but I'm also your will to protect. Let me loose_."

"No."

"_You'll need me soon, remember that_."

As I was about to launch at Mayuri, I heard my father's voice. He was screaming and I looked back. To my horror, he was arched backwards, with Zangetsu through his chest. He gurgled as blood pooled and frothed from his mouth. Then, slowly, with deliberate purpose, the blade was pulled out from behind him; my sister tossed Zangetsu aside and kicked my father over. Ichigo Kurosaki fell face first to the ground and my mother rushed to his side. With all her best kido, she tried to save him. At best she was keeping him alive and then the voice came again.

"_Let me loose, and I'll kill them all, the freak, the emotionless one and that traitor sister of yours_."

And I did. I let him loose and a mask began to cover my face. The mask was a wolf. It had white ears and grey all over it. The mask stuck out and was what a wolf actually looks like. I snarled and looked at my sister. I had no idea what I was doing, yet the wolf was sure of himself and he flew at the Arrancar that were arriving, destroying them with my sword. Then, he flew at Mayuri, slashing him with my sword. Mayuri spurted blood and fell and then he threw a more powerful version of my First Wind and its ripped all over Mayuri, causing him to bleed heavily.

Then he turned at my sister and hit her with everything he had. She crumbled and then moved to Mayuri's side. Nemu also returned to him and the wolf struck at them with all his power and might. And when they fled from the battle, he turned to Raman and threw my First Wind at him, slashing him through his Hierro. Raman coughed up blood and fell down and the wolf looked for more targets. And sure enough, he found my mother. I screamed and yelled at him to stop but he didn't listen. He charged up the wind in the sword and my mother didn't know what was happening. Sure enough I thought she was dead for good.

But warm arms wrapped around me and I stopped. The wolf lost control and I managed to stop him for a time.

Rangika spoke.

"Jasen, I know that you're hurting, believe me, I know, but whatever is happening to you, or whatever it is that you're doing, please stop it. Raman over there is critically injured because of whatever it is that is covering your face. It's hurting you and seeing you in pain like this, it's hurting me too. Jase, you need to stop, for your Brother, Your Mother, Your friends and, well, for me. Please Jase, stop it, just stop it, because I can't see you in pain any longer. Please!"

And then the mask broke from my face and I fell onto her, drained. My chin rested on her shoulder and I took heavy breaths. I stepped back and when I realised that the enemies were gone, I rushed over to my father. My mother was crying over him, doing her best to heal him. He was so weak that his sword sealed itself for the first time since he attained Shikai. He took in ragged breaths and I knew he was close to death. I tried to hold back the tears but I couldn't. He was my father. And I knew he wouldn't last long. I kneeled next to him and I looked at his brown eyes. He smiled weakly and I smiled back. And then he spoke.

"Jasen, my eldest….. My son." He whispered, between gasps.

"Dad, I'm here, I'm here."

"Jasen, you have to promise me something….. Promise me….. Promise me you won't hate your sister, I don't know why she did what she did, but don't hate her…..save her."

"Dad, I can't…. I just can't, I want to, but I can't and I'm sorry."

"Jasen, before I go, I'm going to give you the power to save her, prepare yourself."

And with that, he stabbed me right in the chest with Zangetsu. I felt his power flowing into me and I knew that he was giving me all of his spirit power. His last gift to me was his reiatsu and I was truly thankful. Unfortunately, I knew I had to kill my sister. I wasn't going to spoil his last moments. I looked at him and sealed my sword. I was going to give him what he wanted, so he could rest.

"Dad, I promise I won't hate my sister, and I'll save her. I promise you, on my honour as a Kurosaki and Shinigami."

"Good my son, I'm glad, protect your mother and go get that girl…"

And he died then. My father was gone, and a rage filled me. I looked at them and I sprinted towards my sister's reiatsu. I would kill her. She took my father away from me and I wasn't letting her get away with it. As I flash stepped, I drew my sword and pumped out so much reiatsu that they had no way of not knowing I was coming. When I did find them my eyes turned to gold and I lunged at Nemu. She kicked me away and I smiled.

"_Scream and Take Flight, Kinkurowashi_!"

But nothing happened. My sword stayed as it was and then they began their assault. Mayuri slashed across my legs and arms, paralysing me and I fell, the pain was overwhelming. Then Mai began to unleash a barrage of Hakuda. I don't know if it was pain or pure hatred, but I started to move at them and fought at them with all I had. They beat me, Nemu and Mai, within an inch of my life and then they left me there. Punch after punch after kick after punch broke my bones and slashes ripped my flesh, yet I continued on, with hate in my heart and pain in my body, I continued on, until Mai stabbed me in the heart with her sealed zanpakuto. I coughed up blood and fell. When I looked up they were gone. I got up, with searing pain all over my torn clothes, and followed their reiatsu with an agonizingly slow pace. But my eyes started to close and my head began to feel foggy, the pain seeped away and my reiatsu began to fall. I collapsed to my knees and kept going. Even when I was crawling, even when I had to drag myself through the dirt into the park I kept going. My hair fell in front of my eyes and I was surprised to see it was black. I think it turned black that night from my grief or it turned black because of my father's reiatsu, but either way, I have looked like the perfect hybrid of my mother and father since then. After that, I accepted my death. As I closed my eyes, I turned over to lay on my back. I took in the area around me and I noticed the rain. What I didn't notice was the woman walking up to me. The last thing I remember before I closed my eyes was:

"Kurosaki-kun?"


	11. Chapter 11

_Rangika_

Where was he? It had been an hour since we'd seen him run off and even Ronok could barely detect his reiatsu. Raman had stayed behind to make sure Rukia was ok, not that he could walk or even move all that well. He was barely conscious when we left him, but Rukia said that she would take care of him. He's pretty resilient though, so I think that he'd be all right. Raman however was the least of my worries, Jase was gone, and nowhere to be found and we could barely feel his reiatsu. Ronok was tracking the scars of battle nearby but wherever the trail got hot, it froze two feet further on. Ronok drew to a halt when he entered what was obviously a battle zone. Blood was everywhere; the moonlight turning its crimson colour to a jet black. Ronok dropped his head, his green headband barely keeping his long, drenched hair out of his eyes. Then he turned to me, and I could see in his eyes that the trail was done. There was no trace of any reiatsu stronger than a normal humans and I knew it. If I cried then, I wouldn't have known it the rain was so strong. I tried to talk but my voice was so weak that no one could hear it over the rain. My hair clung to my neck and I just walked back to Raman and Rukia. I knew it was a lost cause but if anyone was telling Raman the news, telling Rukia that her son, her little boy that she cradled since he was a baby, was dead. She had lost her daughter; her husband and her son. All of her loved ones taken from her. It wouldn't be easy, but it was my responsibility. I knew them both better and even if I couldn't accept it myself; I knew I had to tell them.

_Ronok_

Damn it! Where was the kid? Why was he stupid enough to go after a Captain and Vice-Captain? Even if his sister was there, he was in no condition to fight her. I was looking as hard as I could, but by the time I reached the park I knew there was no hope. Blood was everywhere and I could tell it only belonged to one man. I looked at Rangika, her face was a mess, hair everywhere, I could see why Jase was into her, even injured and sopping wet with her hair clinging to her face, she was still beautiful. But she turned away and headed back to the others before I could tell her that Jase was dead. She knew it and I knew it. No matter what, I had just lost someone else on a mission. That was two out of five. I wasn't letting Rangika or Raman die, no matter what. And with that thought I followed Rangika. It was a solemn walk but I had a goal and that was to protect the others. Before I could get to her however, I felt several familiar twinges of reiatsu. I flash stepped to the location where I could feel the reiatsu. Captain Hirako, Captain Kensei and Vice Captains Matsumoto and Hisagi were waiting there. I walked to Captain Hirako and just shook my head and he nodded solemnly. He knew, his Vice and third were dead and he wasn't happy. Whatever came next, the war that I knew was coming was what I was focused on. When I got back to soul society, I was going to train until I dropped. Shuhei yanked on my collar and demanded to know if his daughter was ok. I let him know she was and we followed her reiatsu back to Raman and Rukia.

_Raman_

When I saw Rangika come back without Jase, my head just dropped. I couldn't walk and I was severely injured but I crawled over to and hugged Rukia, she was the mother I never had, as was Ichigo the father I never had and Jase the brother I never had. Mai and I had been close but I hated her with a passion now. My de facto father and brother were dead due to her. I could feel a fresh batch of tears drip onto my shoulder and seep into my shihaksho and I knew Rukia was crying, tears of sorrow and tears of rage. No way was she getting over this. Nor was I and I could see Rangika was in pain. She slumped down onto a corner and I let Rukia go. Ronok arrived a few minutes later. Captain Shinji went to Momo's body and then to me and looked knowingly at me, Captain Kensei, Shuhei and Rangiku went to Rangika, and then Rangiku went to Rukia and held her for a while. I couldn't believe what had happened in such a short period of time, but of course, what was time for him, if he hadn't had Mayuri make him more Shinigami so he could age, he wouldn't have any real concept of time. Days would have turned to months to years to decades in front of him and he wouldn't even know it, not growing from a boy's body. But time had ended for Jase, time had ended for Momo and time had ended for Ichigo. They would be sent to the real world as new souls. Of course what about me? I die then go to soul society again; it just didn't seem entirely fair. I got a new life if I died and at the age I was purified and them? They got to live in the real world for a short time. It didn't seem fair, why didn't they get to live in soul society for good? And why do I get to, I mean, supposedly, I'm an abomination; I'm not even sure how I came to be a perfect Arrancar.

I was too lost in thought to notice a few old friends show up, Uruhara placed his hand on my shoulder and Yoruichi pulled me into a hug and Tessai lifted me up onto his back. I still couldn't walk even with my rapid healing. Jinta and Ururu were with Tessai and they gave me, Rangika and Ronok some food. Rukia went to Ichigo's father's house, where Ichigo's sisters met her there. They hadn't seen Rukia in some time, and it would come best from her when they found out their brother had died. When we got to Uruhara Shop, he rested us for a while, and I slept an uneasy sleep. I dreamt about the battle that we had just engaged in. when I woke I would toss and turn and weep and then fall asleep again. The next day, I woke up and was met with a clean, woundless body. Tessai must have healed me up replaced my clothes. I was wearing a crisp, washed Shihaksho and I slung my sword over my back. My sword is a beautiful long sword of a milky white blade rippled with aqua-blue throughout it, and the weight of it on my back was a comforting one. I walked out to the house part of the shop and found the captains, vice captains, Uruhara, Yoruichi and Tessai sitting at the table discussing what was to happen. According to Ronok, soul society was inaccessible and that was alarming. When Captain Kensei had entered the Dangai, he found the way into soul society collapsed and a seal placed around it, meaning there was no chance of us getting in any time soon. This either meant that precautions were being put in place against Mayuri, which of course, made no sense as we would be allowed back in or, what was far more likely, Mayuri had made his move on soul society and that meant that he had essentially won or was almost winning. We decided to rest for a few more days as we had no way in to soul society and no news from it, so rest and recuperation was the best thing we could do. Ronok had gone down into the training pit beneath the shop to train and so had the other captains. Rangika was either in her room or out at the shop front. As I had nothing better to do, I trained with the other for a bit, mainly Tessai though; I knew he could help me upgrade my kido.

_Rangika_

I hadn't slept all that much after Jase's death, sure a few hours at night but whenever I closed my eyes, all I saw was that blood covered field and the haunting white wolf on his face. I couldn't come to terms that one of my best friends was dead and completely gone from me. I couldn't tease him anymore, I couldn't laugh with him, fight alongside him or do anything, all that was left where he was, was a void that seemed to expand, sucking everything in with it. I cried again at that point, for Jase or for myself, I'm not sure, I was selfish enough to wallow in my own sadness while a war was around me. I couldn't bear how weak I was then, but I couldn't do anything about it if all I did was mope. I got up, dried my eyes and looked towards the golden sun, that was my Jase. Its golden rays would be his golden reiatsu and its shine would be his smile. I smiled finally then. I wasn't over his death but I was going to kill his sister. That would be my driving goal. To get revenge for him. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't even notice the person behind me.

"Did you miss me?"


	12. Chapter 12

_"__It's warm"_

I woke up groggy in a dark woodland area, sun shone directly on my face, but nowhere else. Wherever I was, I wasn't in the park I was sure I died in, and it didn't feel like being back in Soul Society either, wherever I was, I felt safe, and my wounds were gone. My sword was at my hilt and I pulled my hood down from my head and the mask down from my nose. I guessed there was nothing better to do but venture into the forest that was all around me. I peered down a dark track that wound almost endlessly across the forest. The path was surrounded by oaks, their branches reaching out to each other, forming a natural roof, an impenetrable roof it seemed too, as darkness melded around the edges of the path, an unnatural, evil darkness.

"My Hollow is in there." I said to myself, maybe to reassure or maybe to confirm it, it didn't matter, I would face him.

I walked down the path at a leisurely pace, I guess I must have realised that I was inside my soul. The last time I was here, I was in heaven, this time, I was in a forest, a dark, evil forest. At the least, I was alive, I knew that much, though I must have been close to death. My friends were hopefully ok, for all I knew; they picked me up and took me to Uruhara's Shop where Tessai would have fixed me up, but until then, I knew I had no chance of surviving the hollow without a little help.

"Kinkurowashi? You out there? I could use some help if you could lend it!"

_"__He's not here…..BUT I AM"_

And the wolf leapt at me, to which I rolled out of the way and drew my sword. I looked all around and noticed that the same evil darkness from before had surrounded me. I drew my sword and tried to release it, but like when I went after my sister, nothing. I tried again and again to get it to reveal its power and still nothing, it was like it had abandoned me. my own soul had abandoned me.

_"__You're not calling your little birdie out anytime soon, not with the old man around." _He howled as he lunged at me and I flipped over him and slashed his leg, but he was too fast and circled around to face me.

"What old man?"

_"__Zangetsu."_

"Zangetsu, no way. You can't be serious!"

_"__Come with me then, I'll show you, then, I'll kill you."_

And that's how I found myself walking along with my wolf hollow as we exited dark path to a site of massive deforestation. It was surreal, for every tree that fell, sideways skyscrapers and a floating sideways lake. This must have been my father's inner spirit world. In the distance I could make out a battle, Kinkurowashi was doing battle with Zangetsu in the near hollow took that time to try and kill me, to which, I took a claw to the shoulder. I decided if I was to help Kinkurowashi, I would first master my hollow. He leapt at me and I slashed at his side, making a small cut. We traded blows for some time, blocking, dodging, I spun and put my sword through one of his legs, and he wrapped his tail around my waist, and leashed a grey cero at my chest, I kicked his jaw and it didn't hit me full force, but it hurt pretty bad. I was in a bad way, alive, but barely. As he leapt at me again, Zangetsu and Kinkurowashi appeared at my side. I looked at them and wondered what they were doing, they were fighting just before.

_"__Jasen, we stopped our fight for control of this world so that we may aide you to stop and control this hollow, if we work together, we can get it to subjugate and you can control it."_

_"__Yes boy, my promise to your father would not be very good if I did not protect you!"_

"Wait, what are you doing here Zangetsu?" I asked "I mean why are the two of you fighting!"

_"__Because boy, I was given to you so that you may live longer and be stronger."_

_"__Zangetsu, do not be foolish, with you here, he cannot release me and he is weaker for it!"_

_"__Kinkurowashi, with his father's Reiatsu and his combined, he has no enemy that could best him, that was his father's wish and I will uphold it until I die."_

_"__But if you stay, he will die! You Zangetsu have noble intentions, but you don't understand that while you are here, you are like a leech, taking from Jasen without realising it, your city is destroying both mine and the hollows world and when I am gone, he will become a hollow!"_

_"__I will not allow that to happen, I am his spirit now also!"_

"Wait Zangetsu, Kinkurowashi, I have an idea."

_"__What is that exactly?"_

"Merge with each other, Zangetsu, give your and my father's Reiatsu to me and Kinkurowashi, and you'll be completing your goal, as well as that you can be at rest with my father."

_"__All right boy, eagle, get ready, you'll feel… different. Soul Technique: Final Merger!"_

And with that, Zangetsu was was a bit darker now, like Zangetsu's black cloaks colour had somehow melded in with his feathers. I felt significantly stronger, as though unbelievable reiatsu was flowing through me. it was now that I turned to face my hollow, if I could just defeat him here, I could harness his power just like my father had before. My strength had increased and I flexed, and with that flex, my golden reiatsu poured out of me, with black ripples through it. And then I sprang after my hollow. I found him in his forest. Due to releasing Zangetsu, the forest was gradually growing, till it surrounded the small city of towers that remained of Zangetsu. The hollow growled at me, but didn't strike at me like he did before, he prowled around me, sussing my strength out, and then he jumped at me and jaws ripping and snapping at me, that was until I clamped his jaws shut and kicked him in the ribs. He yelped and I looked him in the eyes.

"I am the alpha male here wolf, understand that, and I will not kill you, resist at all and ill shove Kinkurowashi so far through your gut that my hand will come out the other side, do you understand?!"

_"__Whatever kid."_

"What did you say, I believe you called me kid, did I hear you right?" I put a large amount of pressure on his jaws and he yelped, then I forced his snout to the ground and he finally spoke again.

_"__Alright, kid, alright, I submit, call me into battle when you need me, you've earned my respect, the wolf's way."_

And then he disappeared and I woke up, an orange glow around me and a beautiful, busty red head sitting beside me. I was warm, but more than anything, alive. She was astonished to see me awake I thought, but she smiled. She looked no older than seventeen, and had long orange hair and huge breasts, like Rangika sized breasts. She gave off an aura of love and caring and happiness and she seemed relieved.

"Ah Kurosaki-kun, I'm so glad to see you alive!" she said.

"Yes, thank you so much, but may I have your name, you seem to somehow have mine."

"You don't recognize me?"

"No, I don't believe I have ever met you, I'm sorry."

"but, Kurosaki-kun, we went to school together, you, me, Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, Kuchiki-san, and all the rest, it's a mystery as to why you have died your hair black, are you an emo now?"

"Dyed my hair black? School? Emo? No, I went to the Shino Academy and my hair has been black well, I don't how it got black, but when my dad died, it turned black I guess, but before that I had ashy-blonde hair, only that's changed now I suppose. What was your name anyway?"

"My name is Orihime Inoue, are you not Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"No, I'm his son, well, I was his son, he died you see, I'm sorry, he must have been a friend of yours." I said mournfully, sitting up.

"Yes, well, it's a little more complicated than that, I, well, I was in love with him, still am I suppose, but when I saw you a few days ago collapsed in blood at the park, I thought the worst, but I'm glad you're ok, how did…How did Ichigo die?"

"His supposed daughter killed him, he was betrayed, he… he didn't deserve a death like that, stabbed from behind with his own sword. How did you heal me by the way?"

"I used my powers of phenomena rejection, the Shun Shun Rika. From that I rejected your wounds, I used it on myself to delay my aging process or rather, return myself to the age of seventeen whenever I want to."

"Could you possibly reverse the reversed ageing process, that is, I mean, could you age me forwa-"

And she pressed her lips against mine in a soft, tender yet passionate kiss. I was shocked and after realising what was happening, pushed her off of me. I loved someone else you see. I looked at her and she was silently crying, cold tears and they dripped onto my shoulder. I held her close, somehow I felt like I had known her for years, maybe the Ichigo inside me was yearning to protect her, and to keep her safe, and so was I.

"I'm sorry Orihime, but, I'm in love with, and well my heart belongs to another."

"It's ok, I understand, it is not the first time."

"You mentioned you went to school with my mother?"

"Well yes."

"She is in the living world and I think she would be glad to see you, she is in need of a friend, I think."

"Well I guess it would be nice to see her again."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better so maybe we could go to Uruhara's?"

"Yes, um, I'm sorry for what happened before by the way."

"The kiss? No don't worry, its ok." I smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, stuff happens you know."

I pushed myself up and she dispelled the Shun Shun Rika. Looking around, I noticed how small and sparse the apartment I was in. I got out of the bed and Orihime handed me one of her hoodies. I pulled it on, it was warm and red and she handed me a pair of jeans that were a little bit too small. I realised quickly I was wearing women's clothes, as my own shihaksho was torn all over. Then he handed me my zanpakuto. Kinkurowashi was back, this I knew for a fact, and I was ready to go back home, but first, I would visit Uruhara, and get a fresh shihaksho. I wasn't going back to soul society in Orihime's clothes, Ronok and Raman would never let me hear the end of it.

I gave her my arm and she took it, and we were off towards Uruhara's shop. It was a pleasant walk, even if I was still a little sore. Orihime made funny remarks and her childlike innocence was extremely endearing. We made good time, and, when we reached a house close to Uruhara's shop , my mother came speeding out towards me and Orihime. Pulling me into her arms, she wept like a baby, so happy to have her son back. she stayed like that for several minutes, then, she gave me a bag with a shihaksho in it, apparently she had sensed my reiatsu from afar and brought fresh clothes for me, I gratefully changed into them and looked on as she hugged Orihime tightly. It was a nice sight, my mother reunited with her long-time friend.

And I left them like that, there was someone I had to see, a golden haired girl, a brown haired man and a black haired Arrancar. I flash stepped to the front door and saw Rangika crying. I walked up to her and she turned away, heading inside the shop. I don't know how she didn't realise that I wasn't there, and so I figured it would have to be me to tell her and not her to notice.

"Did you miss me?"

"JASEN!" she screamed as she ran and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. She rested her head on my chest and her golden hair pooled on my shoulders, with her tears wetting my new shihaksho.

We walked in to the shop to greet the grinning faces of Raman and Ronok, as well as Captain Commander Shunsui, Captain Hirako and Captain Kensei along with Rangiku and Shuhei. Rangiku hugged me, The Captains all nodded, smiled and shook my hand as did Shuhei as Rangika rested her head against my shoulder as we sat down. She held my hand and squeezed it as Kisuke and Yoruichi came in, the latter hugging me and telling me how sorry she was. My mother walked in with Orihime and that's when Kisuke and yoruichi jumped up, getting ready to fight, I was shocked and leapt between them.

"Whats going on?!" I asked

"That's the one who corrupted your sister!" Said Kisuke.

"What? Orihime? No, no she saved my life."

"No, your sister, as a baby girl she died. And when she did, your parents went to Orihime to save her life, but in doing so, she used the Shun Shun Rika to reverse your sisters body so that she would live again, unfortunately she did it for too long, causing her soul to be reversed also. Your sister was a good, kind baby, but she was completely reversed, turning her pure evil. She had been cold and calculating the entire time you knew her, and waited for her moment to strike. She did it perfectly too. For whatever reason she decided, she struck a blow, and in the end, it was Orihime Inoue's fault. So you should blame her, we need to arrest her!" Said Yoruichi

"No! It was an accident, and she saved my life, if you want to get her, you have to get through me. I vouch for her!"

"Jasen, you do know what you are vouching for someone who was part of the death of your father? Are you sure you would want to go through with a fight if it comes to that?" asked Ronok.

"Yeah, I know what I'm doing, but she saved my life, and I owe her as much as her life."

"I agree with my brother, Jasen's life was saved, even if she accidently did change Mai, it was not her fault. I will not let you harm her." And he stood next to me.

"I am with those two, I'm sure that Orihime would not have done it on purpose, why would she have!" added Rangika.

"I think I need to be heard." Said my mother "Mai is my daughter, and it was my decision, along with Ichigo, to go to Orihime to save her life, so the fault is mine alone now. Should you blame anyone or take vengeance, take it on me."

"Rukia, we aren't going to go to any such extreme as to take vengeance on you, if the four of you vouch for her, then that is that, so what happens now in regard to soul society?" asked Kisuke.

"Whats happened to soul society?" I asked.

"It's been conquered, by the now ex-twelfth squad captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, with his new Arrancar army and, also, your sister!" said Ronok.

"What? Well lets go in and un-conquer it." I declared.

"We can't, the Dangai has been sealed, with the guardian destroyed, I don't know what we are supposed to do." Added Captain Shinji

"I know exactly what we can do, with the Dangai sealed from their end, they can't get in to it, but we can. I say we train in there, away from time for three months, like Jase's father did and then, we can free soul society, there are enough of us to make an impact!" Rangika put in.

"I think that settles it. We train."


End file.
